Are Adware/Spyware and Spam Free Speech

[aeallison]

LOL... I kinda thought there was a language barrier thing going on...

[Und3ertak3r]

I was pleased to see a comment regarding what the 1st ammendment is.. fortunatly in OZ we don't have such a thing.. but many australians think we live in the USA.. And they wrongly believe free speech to be to be able to say what you please to whoever..

As for Spyware/Adware/Spam as beeing an expression of free speech..

Adware: Got bloody nothing to do with free-speech.. that is where a developer of software places an advertising Client program in with their application.. this is to help them recover costs for the development of the software.. that is fair enough.. the client may download fresh advertisements at various time.. that also is Just Fair.. These adware applications some times cause you System to slowdown or become unstable.. That is not Fair to the normal user..
Is Adwre A privacy issue.. NO.. is it a form of Harrasment ..NO.. is it Free Speech.. NO.. is it a System performance Issue.. YES

Spyware: Also nothing to do with Free speech: This is where the Adware Client now activley monitors your internet activities and reports back to the advertising company.. Same issues as adware.. but better (Not)
Is Spyware a privacy issue.. YES.. is it a form of Harrasment ..NO.. is it Free Speech.. NO.. is it a System performance Issue.. YES

SPAM This is unsolicited email/ Junk Mail: Some countries have laws prohibiting the delivery of unsolicted mail.. the "Resident" has the ability to opt out, or even take action against the firm delivering the unsolicetd mail. On the electronic side of things, there are no real or reliable laws in this area. The bigest issue with spam is how the companies harvest the email addresses un like a Snail Mail address they need to be supplied with email addresses either from yourself or from a company you have done business with (supplied an email addy in personal information to that company). Privacy become an issue when companies sell of your information you don't know/they don't tell you what they are selling off.. As for system performance.. the bigest problem with SPAM is the bandwidth it ties up.. your sytem is tied up downloading crap, your ISP's mail server has wasted space tied up with the crap..
Is SPAM a privacy issue.. YES/No.. is it a form of Harrasment ..YES.. is it Free Speech.. NO.. is it a System performance Issue.. NO/YES..

There is my View in a nutshell..

Cheers

[nihil]

Hi,

Good analysis there Und3ertak3r, I would add a bit to the SPAM part though:

1. There are people who run address mining bots on the internet. You do not have to have done business with anyone, just posted your e-mail addy? To get round this I would advise:

joebloggsPISSOFFSPAMMERS@myemail.net or whatever the spambot will just harvest an unusable addy? Intelligent people will know which bit to remove

2. Performance? well I had a young South African mate who was touring OZ, he had friends and family in SA and the UK. Some creep spammed his hotmail account with x million instances of the same spam until it flooded his account and made it useless (hotmail would do nothing for him!)........bloody good job his old man worked for a company I used to (he actually had my old job ) So my mate could remember my e-mail addy and I could contact the old man in SA, and get him to use his son's computer to contact all concerned with his new e-mail. Now that is pretty inconvenient, and took two of us some time to fix. Point is, people performance as well as kit performance must be considered? even the time you take just deleting the bloody stuff?

Another thought is that spammers use SMTP relays via other people's resouces.......that is plain old theft of bandwidth IMHO. We have a crime in England called "theft of electricity"...If I could catch a spammer I could do him for that
i

So I would say YES it is a privacy issue, because of the addy mining bots, and YES it is a performance issue, if only on the human resource side, and it is either a crime because it is legislated against (the EU have just done this) or it is theft of resources that do not belong to you........park in the wrong place and you get clamped?

Just a few thoughts

Cheers

[Richy]

Wow ! Very Interesting discussion ...

Recently I purchased a dsl connection and the whole problem started, after burning my fingers very badly (I was charged huge amounts for the past 2 monthly bills), found zonealarm for personal firewall, from zonelabs found about pestpatrol, from there I came to know about adware/spyware etc., and finally joined AO. Thanks for the knowledge posted.

After reading the above discussion, I have some questions to ask (it might be foolish also, bear with me)

Is it the customers mistake, not know about the spam/adware/spyware ?

Is it not the ISP's duty or policy to prevent spam from entering the mail server?

It would be more helpful, if I am enlightened by members (jr/sr/modertors)

Thank you


These are the email policy followed and provided in my isp's website (ddsl.net, ie., Dishnet DSL, India).

---
Email Policy

The following policy guidelines are applicable to all the users who are using DishnetDSL mail services:

Only mails from eth.net domain and colocated domains will be accepted at Dishnet mail servers. For this mails should carry From address as username@eth.net or any valid colocated mail domain.

What do they say by colocated domain ?

Authentication is mandatory for both incoming as well as outgoing mails. Un-authenticated mails will be dropped.

They say that all mails are entered through authentication server, but still i get atleast 45 new spam every day. Does that mean, the authentication server is not functioning properly ?

E-mails with attachments size more than 2 MB will not be permitted.

Dishnet allows only certain attachments to be sent through its mail servers. The following attachments are not allowed:

.exe, .com, .bin, .cab, .bat, .dat, .vbs, .js, .url, .scr, .reg, .pif

DishnetDSL Ltd. does not authorize the use of its proprietary computers and computer network (the DishnetDSL network) to accept, transmit or distribute unsolicited bulk e-mail sent from the Internet to Dishnet (eth.net) members.

In addition, Internet e-mail sent, or caused to be sent, to or through the Dishnet Network that makes use of or contains invalid or forged headers, invalid or non-existent domain names or other means of deceptive addressing will be deemed to be counterfeit. Any attempt to send or cause such counterfeit e-mail to be sent to or through the Dishnet Network is unauthorized.

Similarly, e-mail that is relayed from any third party's mail servers without the permission of that third party, or which employs similar techniques to hide or obscure the source of the e-mail, is also an unauthorized use of the DishnetDSL Network.

Dishnet does not authorize anyone to send e-mail or cause e-mail to be sent to the Dishnet Network that violates Dishnet's Terms of Service.

Any mail with recipient list exceeding 10(ten) will be considered as bulk mail.

Dishnet reserves the right to take all legal and technical steps available to prevent unsolicited bulk e-mail or other unauthorized e-mail from entering, utilizing or remaining within the Dishnet Network.

Will the firewall catch unsolicited mail or is it not working properly ?

Nothing in this policy is intended to grant any right to transmit or send e-mail to, or through, the Dishnet Network.

Dishnet's failure to enforce this policy in every instance in which it might have application does not amount to a waiver of Dishnet's rights.

--- END of Email Policy

[MrLinus]

Is it the customers mistake, not know about the spam/adware/spyware ?

Is it not the ISP's duty or policy to prevent spam from entering the mail server?

Yes and no in regards to the customer. Individuals need to realize that the Internet isn't a pleasant place and lots of unfriendly people exist. Only so much can be done by ISPs in regards to adware/spyware. If an individual chooses to visit a site that carries adware/spyware it is at their own risk. Many ISPs hold to the idea that their responsibility is to ensure uptime of the connection and that's it. Beyond that is the customer's responsibility

What do they say by colocated domain ?

Any domains that they host at their site, even if it's your box.

They say that all mails are entered through authentication server, but still i get atleast 45 new spam every day. Does that mean, the authentication server is not functioning properly ?

Depends on what they mean by authentication. If I read it right, it means that the source and destination are legitimate locations rather than meaning the user has logged into the mail server using say Secure SMTP.

Will the firewall catch unsolicited mail or is it not working properly ?

The email policy is I call a CYA policy (Cover Your Ass). If they need to step in and deal with someone they use the policy. Otherwise, they aren't really obligated to stop messages. Check the wording of it. There aren't that many statements that state "We will do such and such". It's more "we may do something". Many ISPs put these in so they can say they have a policy to stop things even if they don't have procedures in place.

Hope that helps clarify somewhat (at least that's my understanding of it -- does anyone else see something I'm perhaps missing?)

[nihil]

Richy,

ADSL is really no better than dial-up..........it just runs faster. You must switch off (power down) when you are not using it, and I would disconnect the modem.

This prevents your system being used in your absence. It also gives you a different internet address each session

You say you have had high telephone bills?..........I suspect you have a dialler...that is a program that lurks on your system and dials up premium rate sites. I would talk to your telephone company..........over here I would get my money back, because they should not be doing business with SCUM like that. Chech, or get, a breakdown of your calls?

You need to get a good anti virus program and keep it up to date

Also AdAware from Lavasoft and Spybot Search and Destroy (you will have to google for these as I do not have the best links for your part of the world) Update them then re-boot into safe mode and run them.........kill anything that they recommend.

I will be writing a couple of tutorials soon, about recovery from attack and attack prevention, I must appologise for being too lazy to have done it before, but I find myself answering the same questions every day.

Good luck

[Geniusmaxx10100]

There is a difference between spam and spyware spam is freedom of speech becuase whoever sent it is trying to sell you something or promote something to you. but spyware is not freedom of speech you cant just go around spying, and then sendin them things, on ppl wether your on the computer or not.

Hope that helps.

[nihil]

Geniusmaxx10100

Just have a thought about this:


1. If I do not ask for something, why should I get it?
2. If I am not eligible, why should I get it?
3. If it is illegal in my country, why should I get it?
4. If it is sent by means of stealing other's resources (SMTP relay), why should I get it?
5. If it is offensive, why should I get it?
6. If it is irrelevant, why should I get it?
7. If it costs me ($$$), why should I get it?


Geniusmaxx10100

I have some 1Mb 30 pin RAM strips...........would you like me to insert some into you? they might help you think more clearly?

I think you need to run your name through a spell check?

Geniusmaxx10100 = "GUINNESS......MAXED OUT ON"

Good luck, and get a life

[Noia]

there is a right of free speech, they have the right to make spam, how ever....we have the right to not listen to it and not have it forced upon us. they can make spam all they want, just don't force me to look at it or have to go out of my way to avoid it etc
my 2 euro cents

[groovicus]

Geniusmaxx10100 , given the scope of free speech in my post above, how does spam qualify for that protection?



You have the faintest glimmer of a valid argument...